This episode opens 47 days after
the annihilation of the Twelve Colonies and 11 days after
the previous episode,
"The Hand of God".

Didja Know?

The title of this episode refers to the Colonial holiday
Colonial Day, a celebration of the signing of the Articles of
Colonization. Here, President Roslin also uses the holiday as
the day to introduce the newly elected Quorum of Twelve.

This episode introduces the luxury liner Cloud 9 as a
ship of the Colonial rag-tag fleet. One of its attractions is a
park-like dome that allows citizens of the fleet to enjoy a
planet-like setting, complete with artificial sunlight and
artificial horizons. The dome itself is quite similar to those
on the agricultural ship. The term "Cloud Nine" is an American
idiom for being in a state of euphoria.

The "outdoor" scenes on the
Cloud 9 were shot at the University of British
Columbia's Chan
Centre.

Reporter James McManus begins his introduction on TheColonial Gang by describing it as a new talk show. But
a previous version of
TheColonial Gang existed on Caprica's
channel 7, if not throughout the Twelve Colonies, as seen in
"Trust". The name
of the show may be a play on CNN's The Capital Gang, a
similar political talk show that aired 1988-2005. McManus states
that he was formerly with the Caprica Times. Issues of
the Caprican Times (presumably intended to be the same
newspaper) are seen in several issues of the Battlestar
Galactica: Origins comic book mini-series.

McManus states that Playa Palacios was a commentator for the
Picon Star-Tribune. He also introduces Sekou Hamilton,
former editor of the Aerilon Gazette.

McManus states that this Colonial Day is the
52nd anniversary of the signing of the Articles of
Colonization.

McManus uses the swear word "frak" during the
Colonial Gang broadcast. It would seem there is
no censorship or department of standards for public broadcasts
within the fleet.

The question of whether President Roslin will shake Zarek's hand
is likely a nod to the same question about Israeli President
Yitzhak Rabin shaking the hand of former Palestinian terrorist
Yasser Arafat at the Oslo Accords of 1993. Zarek was also a
terrorist on Sagittaron.

President Roslin refers to her senior advisor Wallace Gary as
"Wally".

McManus discredits Zarek as a legitimate delegate to the Quorum
by recounting his destruction of the government building ("Zarek" Part 2)
and takeover of the prison ship that resulted in kidnapping and
attempted rape ("Bastille Day";
Zarek's close friend Mason attempted to rape Cally).

Near the beginning of this episode, Baltar becomes Caprica's
delegate to the Quorum. Later in the episode, he is elected Vice
President of the Colonies/Fleet.

At the first meeting of the new Quorum, Roslin opens by
admitting that the day's agenda is rather large. Yet, she
adjourns the session after only a couple minutes after the
nomination of Zarek as a vice presidential candidate.

Head Six points out to Baltar that reporter
Playa Palacios is not wearing underwear under her skirt. Baltar
starts to look at her where she is seated directly across the
chamber from him and she notices and crosses her legs, giving
him a glimpse. The scene is certainly borrowed from a similar
one in the 1992 film Basic Instinct starring Sharon
Stone.

Marshall Bagot is seen as Virgon's representative to the Quorum.
He was first seen in the same, or similar, position in the
Colonies in "Trust".

At 15:06 on the Blu-ray,
representative
Safiya Sanne's identification plate at his seat shows that he is
from Leonis. But later he is shown to be the Picon
representative instead. An unseen Quorum member named Elrad Hunt
represents Leonis.

At 20:22 on the Blu-ray,
Leon Grimes is drinking a bottle of Hawryliw, which he then uses
to deliver a blow to Apollo. The name on the bottle is a nod to
the show's property master, Ken Hawryliw. In the Caprica
episode "Retribution",
the employee file of one Lillian Teller shows she once worked
for Hawryliw Robotics Inc.

When Valance spills his briefcase during the bar fight, his gun
falls on to the floor and is seen to have a silencer on it.
Seconds later the silencer is gone when Starbuck picks it up.

Helo refers to the tall building that's still standing in Delphi
as the Telamont Building.
Telamont must have been a Caprican business.

At 29:25 on the Blu-ray, the population whiteboard shows 47,898
people in the fleet. This is down 7 from the last known count in
"Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down".
In the next episode,
"Kobol's Last Gleaming" Part 1, the population is
47,897, down one, presumably due to the death of Valance in this
episode.

After Valance's murder in custody aboard the
Cloud 9, Apollo tells Colonel Tigh the killer
must have got past the marine guard through the vent. People
escaping or gaining entrance to a locked or prohibited space in
a structure via a ventilation duct is an old trope in film and television.

Baltar has a tryst with
Playa Palacios in this episode.

The music that plays in the ballroom when Baltar is announced as
the Vice President is the same music that opens the late night
Backtalk with Baxter Sarno television show in episodes
of Caprica.

Zarek's dialog to Roslin of "I shaved very close this morning in
preparation for getting smacked by you," is a quote from the
1970 film Patton.

During the festivities on Cloud 9 near the end of the
episode, Apollo dances with Starbuck, Lt. Gaeta is seen dancing
with Boomer,
Sekou Hamilton dances with
Playa Palacios, Tyrol dances with Cally, Billy dances with
Dualla, Ellen and Saul dance with each other. Later, Starbuck is
seen dancing with Baltar and Commander Adama dances with
President Roslin.

While dancing, Ellen tells Saul she has managed to get a day in
a luxury room on the Rising Star for the two of them.
She also exchanges looks with Zarek in the distance, all
implying the luxury room may be payment for information she
delivered about Valance's holding room before the murder. In
BSG70, the
Rising Starwas a luxury and recreation ship, but in later episodes
of this series, it is said to be a medical transport, so it
seems unlikely that it has luxury rooms; it would be more likely
that such a room would be procured on the
Cloud 9 itself.

A Cylon Heavy Raider comes in for a landing at the Delphi
spaceport at 41:50 on the Blu-ray.

Unanswered Questions

How could Baltar have been selected as Caprica's delegate to the
Quorum without his knowledge? And does he remain Caprica's delegate
after being elected Vice President?

Did Grimes actually give up information about Valance as
Starbuck claimed? Or was that just a ruse to try to get Valance
to talk?

Who killed Valance? Was it Zarek or one of his goons? Zarek
denies involvement in Valance's death to Roslin, but he's killed
before and certainly wouldn't be above lying about it. There is
a hint of collusion between Zarek and Ellen Tigh at the Cloud 9
bar when he admits to her that he is looking for a friend of his
named Valance; it's possible Ellen got him information about
where Valance was being held.